Good Laptop Brands?

Since I'm the kind of guy that uses custom-made computers I don't know much about laptops, so I wanted to see if you guys had any specific recommendations. I've heard that Toshiba, HP and Dell are garbage and load their computers with a bunch of shitware. I'm not looking for anything that costs more than $1000, I just want a portable computer that isn't utter crap.

PS: No Apple.

Toshiba's been good to my friends in Asia in particular, and they know their laptops. Might be a hit or miss scenario.

I'm personally rocking an Acer and am very content with it. On the more budget side, I would go with a Lenovo.

HP and Dell are pretty notorious for that, but there are ways to get rid of the shovelware that comes with your laptop (any pre-made laptop commits this sin to varying degrees, especially the ones that come from Best Buy or other big electronics stores)

More important than brand though, I adhere more to the specs so... *shrug*

I went to Best Buy yesterday and they said that by best bet was an Acer, a Lenovo or an Asus.

Final said:

BY THE WAY, the best place to get laptops is probably Microcenter.com they have stores all across the USA and the savings are A M A Z I N G, compared to newegg/walmart/bestbuy/amazon

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I've heard of them, but they don't have a store here in Florida :(

If you buy a Dell straight from Dell then its quality.

I gotta agree on ASUS. I have a G74 and the thing runs great. As far as getting your moneys worth they are awesome.

Here are qualities that are usually NOT listed in a laptop's spec sheet:
-Build quality
-Display quality (contrast ratio, color accuracy, color gamut, viewing angle)
-Speaker quality
-Keyboard and touchpad ergonomics/quality
-Customer support
-Model specific advantages

Examples of model specific advantages:
-Hybrid graphics
-Dual battery slot
-Extra toughness
-Cell data connectivity

Here are specs that are usually listed, yet are sometimes overlooked in several ways (underestimated, miscalculated, etc):
-Dimensions
-Weight
-Battery life
-Connectivity ports

This list is by no means exhaustive.